More than £5 million a year is to be spent helping the homeless in Bristol – and for the first time the entire support network is to be properly co-ordinated.

A major new project has been launched which will mean hundreds of homeless people will be put onto one of four ‘pathways’ to get them back on their feet.

And it will also mean the different charities and organisations that get money from the city council to help the homeless will no longer overlap, and at times compete with each other for the financial support.

Bristol City Council will spend a total of £5.3 million a year – some from council taxpayer funds and some from a series of multi-million pound grants from central government – for the next five years.

But now, to make the support network more simple and straightforward the council has got the organisations into line and created four different ‘pathways’.

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The first will provide accommodation to men and be led by the Salvation Army. The second will provide mixed accommodation, and be led by Second Step.

The third will support women-only accommodation and be run by St Mungo’s and the four will provide housing support for those misusing substances, and be led by ARA – the Addiction Recovery Agency.

Young people between 16 and 25 are supported by a separate project, which launched last month in the centre of Bristol.

Within those four ‘pathways’, people are put into four different levels of support, with the highest level seeing 24-hour staffed accommodation, to the fourth level providing low support for people preparing to live independently again.

The new system was brought in because of a myriad of organisations, structures, hostels and support networks each providing support.

Councillor Paul Smith, Cabinet Member for Housing

Paul Smith, the councillor in charge of housing at Bristol City Council, said: “We have taken a new approach to funding these services, building on the relationships between organisations and asking them to share responsibility for helping people to achieve their aspirations and recover from homelessness.

“At a time when affordable housing in Bristol is very difficult to access, it is vital that services are better matched to people’s needs and that we are doing all we can to encourage independence for residents, enabling them to move more quickly into mainstream housing as their support needs are met."

The new streamlined approach will mean everyone working together in their own area, and the person being supported moving through the system with one co-ordinator rather than having to go through several different organisations.

a homeless person sleeping in a doorway

“It avoids a competition between bidding organisations and focuses on working together to get the best possible services,” said a spokesperson for the new partnership.

“As someone enters the pathway, there will be a robust, strength-based assessment of that person’s needs and aspirations, with every person having a tailored plan for their ‘journey’ of recovery away from homelessness,” she added.

“Strength-based means looking at the positive tools a client may have to help their recovery instead of focusing on their risks,” she said.

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The chief executive of the Bristol-based mental health charity Second Step, Aileen Edwards, said: “We’re delighted at the streamlined approach being taken to tackle homelessness in Bristol.

“We will be responsible for leading the mixed accommodation service and are excited about working with our partner providers to bring more effectiveness and improved outcomes,” she said.

How you can help someone who is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

If you are concerned about someone who is rough sleeping, anyone can make a street referral via streelink.org.uk